Something awful happens. The lovers finally break up, the heroes get captured, a beloved character dies, TheBadGuyWins... and after the smoke clears, one of the characters suddenly remembers that today is their birthday.

Used to heighten the dramatic irony of something so tragic happening on what is supposed to be a happy day, and symbolizing how the character(s) will never be the same.

Alternately the character is aware it is their birthday, in fact there's a party just for them. But during the party there is an attack, a conversation between two characters, a revelation, etc. that disturbs (and often ends) the party. Basically the party is used as a reason to have all the characters be in the same place. That way they are conveniently together when the supervillain attacks instead of needing to be called, especially crucial if the characters are adults with day jobs or secret identities and wouldn't naturally be spending time together without a cause. This party is why the people who have been avoiding each other will finally have to talk. This gathering of people is how the secret comes out (someone reveals it not knowing it's a secret or someone being drunk both common causes) and the revelation has more of an impact because now everyone knows not just the few people it effects.

Compare/Contrast IronicBirthday, which is when the bad thing in question has to be kept a secret, and the character in question doesn't remember their own birthday until the party. Related to DangerousSixteenthBirthday and HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday (when the horrific events happen ''because'' it's a special day, birthdays included.)

!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Anime and Manga]]* ''Manga/BlackButler'': [[spoiler:Ciel's tenth birthday was the day his house burned down with both of his parents inside. He was also kidnapped and taken off to be a slave and, oh sure why not? A human sacrifice to a satanist cult.]]* ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'': The entire fight with Beerus takes place in the midst of Bulma's birthday party. When all is said and done, however, [[BigBad Beerus]] ''does'' have the decency to apologize to the Z Fighters for ruining the party before taking his leave.* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': When Ed and Al have just gone through a traumatic experience at Laboratory 5 and are both still injured, Ed remembers that it's his birthday.* In ''Anime/MaiHime'', a relatively light-hearted example happens when Mai has to take part in a make-up cooking exam and fight an Orphan on her birthday, and in a sound CD, Nao ends up getting everyone at Mai's room drunk. She briefly notes that this might be the worst birthday for her ever, having no idea how bad things will get for her before the end of the series.* ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'': Kagome was dragged into the whole mess with the Shikon Jewel and the Feudal Era on her fifteenth birthday.* Happens in the first anime adaptation of ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima''. [[spoiler:Guess when Asuna dies.]]* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'':** ''Tokyo Ghoul'' has a very subtle example, for those paying attention. December 20th is the date given for the day Kaneki broke under torture and decided to give up on his humanity, embracing his Ghoul nature and gaining several [[RedRightHand dramatic]] [[DiseaseBleach physical]] [[WhiteHairBlackHeart changes]] in the process. It also happened to be his 19th birthday, adding to the symbolism of his "rebirth". ** In the sequel, Kuramoto Itou spends his birthday taking part in a high-risk combat operation, fighting a CuteButPsycho MonsterClown. He makes no mention of it in-series, leaving this fact to be noticed by readers that are paying attention. ** The sequel strikes again, with the climatic battle between Kaneki and Arima taking place on the eve of their shared birthday. [[spoiler: It concludes with Arima dying in Kaneki's arms, having committed suicide on his 33rd birthday]]. * ''Anime/YattermanNight'': Leopard's 9th birthday was absolutely normal until her mother started succumbing to her illness. Then she discovers the truth about her lineage, goes looking for help by sneaking into Yatter Kingdom, gets shot at [[BrokenPedestal by her heroes,]] and ends up watching her mother die in the end. And that's just the beginning of her troubles...* ''Anime/StarDriver'' seems to avert this at first, telling you relatively early in episode 6 that it's Sugata's birthday. Then the episode turns out to be a WhamEpisode. And ''then'' [[spoiler:[[TheHero Takuto]]'s narration at the end of it reveals that it's his birthday too. While his friend cries over a seemingly dead Sugata.]]* The final episode of ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' takes place on Ririka's eleventh birthday. Ririka [[spoiler:undergoes a HeroicSacrifice]] on her birthday.* TheMovie for ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5GoGo'' kicks off when Bunbee drops in on Nozomi's party, starts a fight and steals her birthday cake, leading to the Cures going to the Land of Sweets, where the movie's BigBad is waiting.* In ''LightNovel/YoujoSenki'', the Duchy of Dacia invades The Empire requiring Tanya and her newly formed Rapid Response Mage Battalion to launch a counterattack on them, it's a staggering 50.000 infantry soldiers VS 48 aerial mages. All this happens on Tanya's "on paper" birthday. Tanya herself however, consider the attack as 'surprise gift' from Dacia because she got a chance to get a 'life fire exercise' for her newly formed battalion. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]* In ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', Victor Van Damme, aged 11, had his father drop his entire family history on him, and then leaves him alone in the parlor. Several hours later, Victor realizes that it's his birthday.* In ''ComicBook/{{Trese}}'', it is only after a major battle with an old war demon that the heroine, Alexandra Trese, and her companions remember that it is her birthday. By this time, a lot of damage has been done to the city, Trese herself is recovering from some battle wounds, and her two sidekicks have very nearly been murdered by their own father. * In ''ComicBook/{{Persepolis}}'', Marjane finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her, is falsely accused of stealing a brooch, and runs away from the only place she had to stay, effectively rendering herself homeless, on her eighteenth birthday.* This is part of the premise behind the DC classic ''Comicbook/ForTheManWhoHasEverything''. Superman is attacked with a fake birthday present sent by Mongul, and when Batman, Robin[[note]]Jason Todd at the time[[/note]] and Wonder Woman unsuspectingly come for the party, they are forced to fight him to save Supes.* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'s nemesis Comicbook/{{Sabretooth}} makes it a point to track down the former on the day of his birthday, no matter where he is, and fight him. [[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' {{Fanfic}} ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/24716/1/Pinkie-Pie%2C-and-Nothing-More/Pinkie-Pie%2C-and-Nothing-More Pinkie Pie, and Nothing More]]'' explains her behavior in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E25PartyOfOne Party of One]]" this way. Basically, [[spoiler:her parents decided to send her away from the farm to pursue her dreams, ''without'' giving her any choice in the matter]]. When she asks why they sprung this on her ''birthday'', she receives a blank stare and realizes they forgot.* In the surprisingly good ''[[Series/TheYoungOnes Young Ones]]'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5011650/1/The_Unforgiven The Unforgiven]]'', this trope gradually unfolds through [[NamedByTheAdaptation Miranda Balowski's]] journals and memorial service: [[spoiler:she spent her sixteenth birthday giving birth to Vyvyan, and her parents threw them both out of the house shortly afterward.]]* In ''Webcomic/HowIBecameYours'', Katara miscarries her unborn son Kuzon a day before her birthday. Unfortunately, her choice of [[LampshadeHanging emphasizing]] ''[[ItsAllAboutMe the timing]]'' makes her come off as [[DesignatedHero unsympathetic]].* Another example with Katara is ''Fanfic/TheStalkingZukoSeries'', in which the events of "The Southern Raiders," as well as the murder of Katara's mother, took place on Katara's birthday. Luckily, the Gaang later has a proper birthday celebration for her.* In ''[[FanFic/{{Horseshoes and Hand Grenades}} A Month of Sundays]]'', it's revealed that the day that the story takes place (April 29th) what with all the madness regarding Foundation X, Gamou, Damballa and the crazy Kamen Rider Mannequins, [[spoiler: Jun Shigeno states that it's her birthday. It's subverted because she knew that today was her birthday--she just didn't tell anyone about it.]]* In the ''Manga/{{InuYasha}}'' fic ''FanFic/BeyondTomorrow'', [[WholeEpisodeFlashback chapter 7]] reveals that [[OriginalCharacter Arina]]'s StartOfDarkness occurred on her eleventh birthday. Her mother walked in on her father [[YourCheatingHeart having an affair]] with one of the female servants, and in the ensuing argument, Arina's father attacked her mother and brutally beat her on the spot; when Arina witnessed this, she ran for her life.* ''Roleplay/WeAreAllPokemonTrainers'':** DS and Mezzo's 20th and 16th birthdays, respectively, occur during the time they're stuck in the mindscapes. ** [=PEFeDOS=] during the PMD-R arc is awakened and begins her sadistic testing once again on Tagg's 21st birthday.** It repeats with Tagg ending up in Ransei 600 years in the past due to [[ItMakesSenseInContext concentrated April Fools shenanigans]] on his 22nd birthday. Herbert, also in the same situation, has his 16th birthday the next day.** Straw gets attacked by Shadow!Crewe on his 18th birthday, which was purposely invoked by Aelia ForTheEvulz.** Sarah was accidentally kidnapped, and subsequently held captive for several days, on her 17th Birthday alongside Ren's Treeko by an Illusion grunt.* ''FanFic/AshesOfThePast'' reveals this to be the case for the events of ''Anime/PokemonHeroes'', as it took place on Ash's 13th Birthday. As a result of Latios' sacrifice in the original timeline, Ash didn't do anything for his later birthdays.* In chapter 24 of the ''Anime/LuckyStar'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11397471/25/I-Was-Kagami-Hiiragi I Was Kagami Hiiragi]]'', Dr. Nagisa Kishimoto explains to Kagami how her sister, [[BigBad Yuka Miyakawa]], [[StartOfDarkness became the way she is]]. When Yuka turned nine, she was brought on a "vacation" by her uncle to a cabin in the woods. Upon reaching their destination, said uncle proceeded to rape and torture her for two days until a pair of hikers heard her screaming, came in, and saw what was really going on. Long story short, things only went downhill from there.* ''Fanfic/PersonaEG'' has Zodiac Shadows that target victims on their birthdays and pull them into Zodiac to be attacked. Anyone who will be attacked will receive a birthday horoscope on the Canterbook app that will read "You are going to die today." Then they are pulled into Zodiac to be attacked by their zodiac. Victims can only escape by being rescued or killing the zodiac with a persona. [[spoiler:All of the main characters are attacked on their birthdays and awaken their own personas to fight back against the shadows.]]* In ''Fanfic/CommonSense'', mainly due to constant attacks from the [[NotSoHarmlessVillain competent]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer Rocket]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes trio]], [[KidHero Ash's]] birthday passed by without him realizing it.* ''Fanfic/WithThisRing'': September 17, OL's birthday is celebrated with the Team stopping a break-out at Belle Reve. To fair, he didn't tell anyone that it was his birthday.[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film--Animated]]* Parodied in ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove'': After discovering that the villain Yzma and her DumbMuscle sidekick Kronk have coincidentally showed up at the same diner he and Kuzco have stopped at, Pacha buys her a surprise birthday cake and song from the wait staff so that he can use the distraction to make a break for it. When Yzma and Kronk leave the diner, this exchange happens:-->'''Yzma:''' Oh, this entire mess is all your fault!\\'''Kronk:''' What'd I do?\\'''Yzma:''' If you hadn't mixed up those poisons, Kuzco would be dead now! There'll be no more diversions until we track that llama down and kill him!\\'''Kronk:''' Said I was sorry. Can't just let it go... [[ComicallyMissingThePoint not even on your birthday]]?[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film--Live-Action]]* In ''Film/BatmanBegins'', Bruce Wayne has a party on his birthday. Before that he has to save Rachel from the baddies and demolish half the city escaping from police. Nevertheless, he makes it home in time for his celebration party... only for the League of Shadows to set Wayne Manor on fire and nearly destroy the city with Scarecrow's fear toxin.* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', the Janjira incident that resulted in the death of Joe Brody’s wife occurred on his birthday.* In ''Film/TheRoom'', Johnny finds out [[spoiler: his fiancee Lisa cheated on him with his best friend]] on his birthday. He ends up [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide killing himself over it.]]]]* In ''Film/BigGame'', most of second and entire third act take place on Oskari's thirteenth birthday. His family even made it into tradition - to become a man, you have to hunt down a "big game" the day you turn 13.* ''WesternAnimation/{{Storks}}'': Nearly happens to Tulip, who thinks Junior was coming to wish her a happy birthday when he was actually coming to fire her. Junior [[CannotSpitItOut can't bring himself to do it]], so instead, she's KickedUpstairs to the (defunct) letters department.* Tree of ''Film/HappyDeathDay'' has to relive her birthday [[GroundhogDayLoop over and over]] because she is being killed on that day.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature]]* Happens a couple of time in the Literature/TortallUniverse by Creator/TamoraPierce:** In ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', Alanna notes how she and her fellow squires are going to be fighting in the Tusaine war before her sixteenth birthday. It comes during a summer filled with fighting and death.** In the second book of ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', Kel is out training to become a knight, and rather focused on [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes not freaking out about climbing tall trees]], and covering her tracks. She then realizes its her birthday.* In ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', when the Baudelaires are in jail for allegedly killing Jacques in ''The Vile Village'', Klaus suddenly remembers that it's his 13th birthday.** Violet goes through the same thing in ''The Grim Grotto'' when they return to the abandoned submarine.* In ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'', after Tom, Jay, and Daisy have their big confrontation, Nick Carraway recalls that he just turned thirty today.* ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians: The Last Olympian'': Percy only realizes it's his DangerousSixteenthBirthday AFTER he realizes the Great Prophecy had been fulfilled (ending the war).** In the sequel series ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'', new character Jason's birthday is only revealed when [[ItMakesSenseInContext the cornucopia his girlfriend received from Achelous]] spits out a cake with purple frosting, midway through a near-suicidally dangerous quest with enemies at every turn. He hadn't wanted to say anything, given the situation.* ''Literature/EnolaHolmes'': Enola is horrified by the day her mother chose to ran off on. Slightly subverted, in that her mother had her reasons . . .* PK Pinkerton in ''Literature/TheWesternMysteries'' comes home to find his parents scalped, his father dead and his mother dying. He doesn't remember it's his birthday until he sees his favorite kind of cake on the table. Red licorice strings spell out "HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY PINKY".* In ''Discworld/{{Wintersmith}}'', Tiffany only realizes that the day [[spoiler: Miss Treason dies]] is also her birthday once it's all over and she realises Death called her [[AC: Tiffany Aching, aged thirteen]].* Mid-way through the book ''Literature/{{Holes}}''. On Zigzag's Birthday, everyone is in on Stanley and Zero's "agreement" of digging holes in exchange for Reading Lessons. Zigzag, [[BewareTheNiceOnes being the type of camper he is]], doesn't take no for an answer when he offers to dig Stanley's hole for him, and when push came to shove, [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown got rather vicious on Stanley]] [[DisproportionateRetribution for not taking a cookie he had offered him in exchange]]. Zero however would not have any of it [[spoiler:and nearly strangles Zigzag to death for hurting Stanley]].* Ib Jeramey Kraatz's Literature/TheCloakSociety novel ''Villains Rising'', Mallory mentions in the middle of their activity that it's her birthday. Alex does go and get cupcakes, though.* In ''Literature/DresdenFiles'', Dresden's birthday [[SignificantBirthDate (Halloween)]] is a night of magic and the supernatural. Naturally, this means that he spends his birthdays trying to save the world. In one story, he's stopping necromancers from achieving godhood when his brother wishes him a happy birthday and Dresden's surprised anyone remembered.* Used to heighten the emotion of the final confrontation in [[Literature/TheBelgariad The Malloreon]] when the characters realize that the captured prince will be turning two years old on the day of the EVENT.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV]]* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': "Edith's Fiftieth Birthday" is marked by a visit by a rapist. Chilling words when the rapist tells her "Happy birthday!" upon learning of what that day is, seemingly more determined to give her his "present."* ''Series/UltramanLeo'': MAC [[spoiler:gets utterly annihilated]] on a team member's birthday. * In ''Series/TheTwilightZone'' episode "The Shelter", a suburban doctor's birthday party is interrupted by a nuclear alert, followed by all the guests desperately trying to break into his fallout shelter, which has only enough room for the doctor's family. [[spoiler:The alert turns out to be a false alarm, but the relationships between the doctor and his friends are damaged, perhaps irreparably.]]* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Virtually ''every'' time Buffy's birthday is celebrated on-screen, it's followed by a supernatural tragedy or crisis she has to deal with. In season 6, Spike lampshades it and remarks that since bad things always seem to happen on Buffy's birthday, she should just stop celebrating it.* A minor example, in an episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Phoebe has to break the news to Precious, the woman whom Mike was in a relationship with while he and Phoebe were separated, that not only are they getting back together (thus ending his relationship with Precious) but he also proposed to her. Precious then remarks "This is the worst birthday ever!" * ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'': Ted is guilty of causing this twice with his ex-girlfriend Natalie, both times not even being aware that it was her birthday. The first time he breaks up with her, he does it by leaving a message on her answering machine, which is played in front of everyone at her surprise birthday party. The second time, he does it publicly in a restaurant, again not even being aware that it was her birthday. Understandably upset he did it twice and didn't even consider it was her birthday both times, Natalie uses her Krav Maga skills to beat him up.** In a less literal example, the final season (except for the last two episodes) takes place entirely over [[spoiler:Robin and Barney's]] wedding weekend, so many of the plots involve all the characters being together for the wedding (or, in Marshall's case, trying to get to the wedding). However, this means that what is usually a year's worth of episode-worthy events occurs in the span of a little over 72 hours. This includes multiple sets of cold feet on behalf of both the bride and groom (with both attempting to escape at least once), Robin's reunion with her rarely mentioned, never seen mother, Marshall's journey from Minnesota to the wedding in New York by car, bus, foot, and eventually car again, Barney escaping and teaching two teenagers how to "be awesome" and subsequently getting the hangover of a lifetime, an argument that nearly ends Marshall and Lily's marriage, and - most notably - Ted finally meeting the Mother (who had already met Marshall, Lily, Robin, and Barney before that). Ted notes that it was the longest weekend of his life. * Towards the end of the second season of ''Series/{{Rome}}'', Cassius and Brutus offhandedly remember that it is Cassius' birthday in the immediate lead-up to a battle. They both remark that the battle will interfere with any kind of celebration that day, and promise to have a big event the next year. [[spoiler:Both Cassius and Brutus know this is little more than a hopeful lie they are telling themselves, since they fully expect to die during the battle, and do.]]* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In the finale of series 8, we learn that the evil plot of the day and all its traumatic events are, in fact, [[EvilFormerFriend the Master's]] idea of a SurpriseParty for her arch nemesis, the Doctor. The day ends with Osgood and the Master dead, the Doctor breaking down in tears after his hopes of finding his missing native planet were crushed once again and his parting with Clara, who has been his closest friend for what, for her, were four years and for him, almost a millennium. Made worse by how he was [[TheFogOfAges completely unaware]] that it's his birthday until the Master pointed it out.* On an episode of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', Miles O'Brien finds out that an alien presence has possessed his wife's body and the alien [[IHaveYourWife will kill Keiko if he doesn't help them kill the aliens in the wormhole.]] It's O'Brien's birthday and at his party he's surrounded by friends he [[AndIMustScream can't tell about his problem]] because the alien will kill Keiko in an instant. The alien later subtly hints that she could use Keiko's body to harm their daughter as well.** One episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' starts with a surprise birthday party for Worf, who finds that he has been unknowingly traveling between alternate universes midway through the episode. Deanna Troi claiming to be ''his wife'' at one point is a big clue...* In an episode of ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'', Malcolm gets sick of being repeatedly bullied by a big kid at school and gives him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Not only does it turn out that the kid is much younger than he looks (so he claims, at least, but none of the school staff deny it), making Malcolm feel incredibly guilty for beating him up, he follows up with "THIS IS THE WORST BIRTHDAY EVER!"** A variation also occurs in the episode that centers on Reese and Malcolm's EscalatingWar. After bringing them back from the hospital, Hal tells Malcolm to cancel whatever plans he had for his birthday because he's grounded. Just as they are going to get into another spat, Lois asks them what they remember doing on their previous birthdays, only for Malcolm and Reese to sadly remember never celebrating a birthday because they did something that got them grounded. At the very end, Lois and Hal [[ApologyGift give Dewey a video game because they missed his big performance in the school play. When that's not enough, Hal gives him Malcolm's (former) birthday gift, a rare, and expensive, comic book.]] Dewey takes it and as he walks back to his room to read it, wishes Malcolm a happy birthday as he and Reese, still bandaged from their fight, perform menial labor around the house.* In Series/{{Firefly}}'s episode "[[Recap/FireflyE08OutOfGas Out of Gas]]", the crew is celebrating Simon's birthday when a mechanical error injures Zoe and temporarily disables Serenity. [[/folder]]

[[folder: Professional wrestling]]* A running gag is to have a wrestler take an especially harsh thrashing if a show happens to fall on their birthday, bonus points if the thrashed are a baby face and even more it is also in their hometown.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theater]]* In ''Theatre/JuliusCaesar'', Cassius realizes it's his birthday right before the battle where he's killed, after having noticed a ''ton'' of bad omens about the battle.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]* ''VideoGame/AceCombat'':** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'', the AWACS [=SkyEye=] tells the pilots it's his birthday in the BackFromTheBrink mission, implicitly asking them to give him victory for a present. Happens again exactly one InUniverse year later, during the decisive battle for Farbanti.** In ''VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar'', Grimm reveals that his birthday is coming up next week during a [[ActionFilmQuietDramaScene quiet break]] between the two final battles.** AWACS Sky-Eye in ''VideoGame/AceCombatInfinity'', [[WholePlotReference like his Strangereal counterpart]], notes that the date of Operation Bunker Shot is his birthday and urges the UNF forces to score a decisive victory due to the occasion.* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'': The [[ZombieApocalypse Cordyceps outbreak]] hits [[PlayerCharacter Joel's]] hometown and [[spoiler:[[AdultFear his daughter dies]]]] mere hours after his birthday.* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':** At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' Link's sister is kidnapped on his birthday.** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', on Zelda's seventeenth birthday, she spends her birthday praying at the Spring of Wisdom [[spoiler: to awaken her divine power to no avail]]. But as she comes down from Mount Lanayru, [[spoiler: Calamity Ganon attacks, resulting in Hyrule being ravaged, her father and her friends killed and Zelda sealing herself and Ganon to stop him.]]* In ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' the Snomads invade Donkey Kong Island on DK's birthday.* ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' opens up with Sonic and his friends celebrating Sonic's Birthday. Just as it's getting started, Sonic is attacked and all of his friends are captured by [[SpaceTimeEater the Time Eater]].* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'': Serah and Snow broke the news that Serah had become a l'Cie to Lightning during Lightning's birthday party. Lightning, [[CassandraTruth not believing their story]], drove Snow and Serah from the house in disdain, openly declaring it to be the "[[WorstWhateverEver worst birthday ever]]." By the time Lightning realized that Serah was telling her the truth, it was too late: the Purge of Bodhum had begun, and Serah had been taken captive by the fal'Cie that branded her.* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys2'' confirms [[spoiler: that the Bite of '87 (where an animatronic bites the frontal lobe off someone) happened at a birthday party.]]** [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys4 Two games later]], [[spoiler: it is revealed that the victim was a birthday boy whose skull is shoved into the mouth of an animatronic by his older brother. To add insult to injury, he ''really'' detests the pizzeria and never wanted to have a birthday party there. Though there are some hints that this wasn't actually the Bite of '87 but instead a separate incident, meaning Freddy Fazbear's could have been the host to at least ''two'' cases of this trope.]]* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' Guy's family was killed on his fifth birthday [[spoiler:by Luke's father. Also the entire island they lived on was destroyed shortly after]].* The opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'' mentions that it's [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Princess Peach]]'s birthday...right before she gets kidnapped ([[DesignatedVictim again]]).[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Comics]]* [[http://www.channelate.com/2010/12/06/a-good-day/ This]] ''Channelate'' strip [[PlayedForLaughs plays this]] for laughs, with someone deciding that it's best to break bad news to someone in a good mood...* In ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'', [[spoiler: Duane Adelier]] and his daughter were heading home on her birthday, when they were both brutally murdered by a group of muggers. One of the last things [[spoiler: Daune]] saw before his eyes were gouged out was his daughter's lifeless corpse lying in front of him.* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': In "Stick Figure Tales of Cotton", Dr. Ironologue is squashed by a giant gorilla and then remarks that it was ironic because it's his birthday, [[DudeNotIronic but the others don't buy it]]. It's a lot less subtle than the usual example.* In ''Webcomic/TheYoungProtectors'', Kyle ends up having to deal with a crisis on his birthday, because [[spoiler:turning 18 makes him fair game for supervillains, which the Annihilator exploits to spring a HoneyTrap, use Kyle's power to communicate with a {{Demon Lord|sAndArchdevils}}, and open a {{Hellgate}}.]]* Although not quite in the trope's order, Grace of WebComic/ElGoonishShive learns that her 18th birthday is the next Saturday while she's being held captive by [[BigBad Damien]], from another captive. Prior to that, she didn't even know how old she was.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original]]* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Taylor just can't catch a break.-->'''Kurt''' [''chuckling'']: I'd offer you a drink, but that'd be against the law. How old are you, anyways?\\'''Taylor:''' Fifteen.\\'''Danny:''' Sixteen.\\[''Taylor turns to look at her dad'']\\'''Danny:''' It's the nineteenth. Your birthday was a week ago.\\'''Taylor''' [''remembering she was fighting the [[TheDreaded Slaughterhouse Nine]] then'']: Oh.\\'''Kurt:''' That's the saddest goddamn thing I ever heard.[[labelnote:*]]Note that Kurt is unaware that Taylor had been doing anything especially dangerous.[[/labelnote]]** Later, Taylor is celebrating another birthday when [[spoiler: Jack Slash begins his attack, heralding the end of the world.]]* Whenever it's a birthday for a member of LetsPlay/HatFilms, a special video goes up of the other two planning a "special treat" for the birthday boy. Recent birthday videos have essentially been the other two members physically and psychologically torturing the third with "birthday quizzes", where wrong answers end in destroyed gifts and having to eat food with a new ingredient that makes it taste disgusting. Ironically, their previous birthday videos just involved opening fanmail.* Parodied in ''WebAnimation/DeathBattle''. [[spoiler:SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Pinkie Pie]] were made to fight each other on the former's birthday, much to his annoyance. After Pinkie finds out, she throws him a birthday party in Ponyville, abruptly ending the fight much to Wiz and Boomstick's confusion]].* In ''Website/GoAnimate'' "[[YouAreGrounded Grounded]]" videos, WesternAnimation/{{Caillou}} will have this happen to him. Sometimes he'll do something bad and wreck his chances, but most of the time, groundings ''are'' his presents.* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' episode "Alone Together", Weiss reveals to Yang that she learned how much her father was both a {{Jerkass}} and a GoldDigger on her tenth birthday.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]* Two examples in ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice.''** Wally's [[ArcNumber sixteenth]] birthday party is interrupted when four giant flying ice fortresses start trying to freeze the entire country. He initially regards this as a '''good''' birthday, since it will give him a chance for a team-up with the Justice League, but grows disappointed when the blizzards knock out all transportation services, resulting in him [[SuperSpeed having to run a transplant heart from one coast to the other]] in time for a little girl's surgery. He barely manages it after being tricked by the girl's EvilUncle, and collapses in exhaustion right afterward.** Dick's fourteenth and nineteenth birthdays are detailed [[AllThereInTheManual in the show's tie-in comic]]. The first appears to be fine: his crush kisses him on the cheek because his best friend was kind enough to inform her, and he has a huge party at his house. His ''nineteenth'', however, quickly devolves from a couple routine missions to recruit a new member and prevent a possible assassination to all of that, plus several high-profile Leaguers and Superboy going missing, the city of Metropolis being cut off from the rest of the world, and what appears to be an alien invasion.* The ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' Season 4 episode "Birthmark" has the rest of the Titans discovering it's Raven's birthday, only for her to want to completely avoid the day in general due to it being the day foretold that she is to become the portal for her father Trigon to arrive on Earth and turn it into his own personal domain. Due to the machinations of a BackFromTheDead Slade, the first stage of this prophecy comes to pass, as she is covered with the markings that will enable her to become said portal and is given a nightmarish vision of Trigon's supposedly-inevitable victory.* ''WesternAnimation/MightyMax'''s two-part [[GrandFinale series finale]] sees Max celebrating his birthday...which is also the day Skullmaster kicks his apocalyptic plan into action.* The ''WesternAnimation/WallaceAndGromit'' featurette "The Wrong Trousers" opens on Gromit's birthday. Not only does he get lousy gifts, it's the day Wallace advertises he's renting out the spare room and Feathers [=McGraw=] moves in, kicking off a series of events that leads to Gromit moving out.* In the ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'' episode "Say Anything" the story follows Princess Carolyn for a day, during which she loses a client and a movie deal, gets excited for a relationship only to have it crumble, and ends with her staring out her office window and her phone ringing to reminder today is her birthday. And she's 40.* On ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug,'' Adrien's best friend Nino wants to throw him a birthday party, but winds up turning into a monster so that Adrien has to fight him. Adrien takes it pretty well, though.** Side character Nathanael gets it worse: ''he'' gets turned into a monster on his birthday, after getting embarrassed by the AlphaBitch in front of his crush and the rest of their class. ** The eponymous character herself is finally subjected to this in ''Befana'', when a misunderstanding leads Marinette's grandmother to believe that her granddaughter did not want to spend time with her and is subsequently akumatized. Fortunately the situation is resolved and Marinette's birthday party continues as planned.* In the episode “Eat, Spray, Linda” on ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'', it’s Linda’s birthday and she’s having a rough day. While her family works hard to make a perfect spa day, she’s sent out to fetch groceries so she doesn’t peek and ruin the surprise. She ends up stuck behind a woman at the counter who takes forever to buy her items (and stole her place in line!), has the family car pinned between two giant vehicles in the parking lot, locks her keys and phone in the car by accident and herself out of the vehicle as a result, gets gum in her hair, no one will give her the time of day to use their phone to call home, rips her pants and ends up wearing a grocery bag as a diaper, ends up on a bus going to the wrong wharf and ends up hours away, walks home for miles on end, gets sprayed by a skunk (presumably by two separate skunks or by the same skunk twice), breaks her glasses, has to ride in the back of a horse trailer to get close to home, and runs into the same snooty woman at the grocery store, refusing to let her have passage through a street blocked off for a chalk festival all because she hadn’t been “nicer” in line, and is called a hag not two minutes later. ** It gets better at the end after her family, who have spent hours looking for her, come home to find her crawling through the kitchen window she just broke in through and finally is able to have her spa day. And Bob learned more about her in the hours he spent searching for her from various places and people, partially thanks to the kids Gene, Louise, and Tina.* This happened on the ''WesternAnimation/DextersLaboratory'' segment "Dial M for Monkey" in the banned episode "Barbequor", where Barbequor and his herald the Silver Spooner attacked the Earth while Monkey was having a birthday party thrown for him by the other heroes. Even after saving the day, Monkey doesn't get to enjoy his birthday because he then has to give The Infraggable Krunk a ride home and is having a hard time accomplishing the task because Krunk can't remember where he lives.* Happens to Michelangelo in a third-season episode of the classic ''WesternAnimation/{{Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles|1987}}'' series, appropriately titled "Michelangelo's Birthday", when Shredder and his mutant minions [[ThoseTwoBadGuys Bebop and Rocksteady]] make several attempts to undo the mutations of him and his brothers.[[/folder]]

[[folder: Real Life]]* Former Buffalo Bills Quarterback Jim Kelly shared a birthday with his son, Hunter. On the day that Hunter died, it dawned on his grandmother that he died on his best friend's birthday.* During the filming of Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory, Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca Salt, had to record the [[VillainSong "I Want It Now" musical number]] on her 13th birthday. The number ended with her going down the garbage chute.* Creator/WilliamShakespeare died on his birthday. ** Other examples [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Buddy431/List_of_people_who_died_on_their_birthdays here]], though, [[AvertedTrope for Shakespeare, it is a misguided assumption caused by the difference between Julian and Gregorian Calendar]].** Among people who died on their birthday, spare a thought for James Milne Wilson, the eighth Premier of Tasmania. His birthday was [[LeapDay February 29th]].* Reginald Carr was sentenced to death on his birthday for committing the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Wichita Horror]] with his brother. [[LampshadeHanging The brother of one of the victims wished him]] a "Happy Birthday".* Creator/SallyField's mother, actress Margaret Field, died on Sally's 65th birthday (November 6, 2011).* [[MonsterClown John Wayne Gacy's]] [[SerialKiller final victim,]] 15-year-old Robert Piest, was kidnapped and murdered on his (Piest's) mother's birthday.* While making ''Film/TrueLies'', Creator/JamieLeeCurtis filmed the scene where she dangles for her life from a helicopter on her 35th birthday.* UCLA [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball football coach]] Jim L. Mora was fired on his birthday in 2017.[[/folder]]----